[astra]

Originally Posted by beppe

One could be crippled for life by drinking that concoction

That's what my brother (doctor) told me and suggested to drink gin instead (I bet Stitchawl has got a big grin on his face when he is reading it )

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Yes good loose leaf is expensive but it tastes sooo good.

Yup.
The more different teas I drink, the more I realise it.
Also, I hope one day I will learn to enjoy re-infused teas.

As promised I quote from emails some bits of wisdom by the lady from The Chinese Tea Company:

First of all oaf's email, then her patient reply:

Unfortunately, I am not a big fan of reinfusions (shame on me, maybe one day I will grow up/mature for reinfusions, who knows?). There are a couple of reasons, but the main one is I don't like to drink the same tea twice, like one after another in a row. I like to drink different teas. I drink tea in 300ml cups. Sometimes during the day I might return to the same tea, but it could be 10 hours later and I don't want to have a strainer with a used tea sitting on my desk telling me:

You have to drink me again! If you don't, you are going to feel guilty for wasting good tea! and money.

I actually do feel guilty for not drinking few infusions from the same tea and wasting teas. However, the main reason for Chinese to have many infusions from the same tea is to see real quality of the tea, the more infusions you get the higher quality the tea is (apart from green tea and white tea), and also to see the changes between each infusions, some teas can have very big difference in flavor and aroma. Also, the second, third, or forth infusions have better taste than the first infusion. We always say that the first cup tastes like water (that is why we don’t drink the first infusion), the second infusion taste like real tea, and the third, fourth infusion are the best.

Here is a little poem about different infusions written by Lu Tong during the Tang Dynasty:

The first cup kisses away my thirst,
and my loneliness is quelled by the second,
the third gives insight worthy of ancient scrolls,
the forth exiles my troubles,
my body becomes lighter with the fifth,
and the sixth ends word from immortals,
but the seventh – oh the seventh cup –
if I drink you, a wind will hurry my sings toward the sacred island.


I am not trying to persuade you to drink more infusions from the same tea, just let you know why we drink multiple infusions. Everybody has own way to enjoy tea.

A cup of Pi Lo Chun "Green Snail Spring" (Chinese green).